Investment Officer

An increasing number of chief executives recognises that sustainability is one of the main challenges they face over the coming years, a new survey among 3,000 CEOs said.

Total assets under management in the European fund industry fell to 14.5 trillion euro at the end of the first quarter from 15.3 trillion at the end of last year, according to the latest European Fund Markets Report by Refinitiv Lipper. 

The negative performance of the underlying markets contributed negative 696.4 billion euro to the decline over the quarter, while estimated net flows summed up to negative 88.6 billion euro by the end of March. 

Anthos Fund & Asset Management BV, the asset manager of the Brenninkmeijer family’s holding company Cofra, takes pride in moving with the times. It is working on a major transformation, no mean feat in view of the international laws and regulations. Once the veil is lifted, Anthos will transform from a single to a multi-family office. 

Despite a wider uptake of alternative energy, fossil fuels like natural gas, oil and coal are here to stay for the next decades and the MSCI Global Energy Composite index will outperform both renewable energy stocks and the broad equity market over the next year, JP Morgan Asset Management said in its 2022 Annual Energy Paper.

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange on Friday said it has stepped up its efforts to advance gender equality in finance by cooperating with UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The cooperation was announced during a signing ceremony at the exchange in the presence of HRH Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Luxembourg minister of finance Yuriko Backes and Luxembourg minister of the economy and development, Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Franz Fayot.

The management board of Belgian private bank Degroof Petercam has put forward Sabine Caudron as head of private banking and member of its executive committee. She is due to replace former CEO Bruno Colmant, whose mandate expires after seven years.

Caudron’s appointment is due to be formalised at the bank’s general shareholders meeting on 24 May. The bank has also named two other female executives to its management committees.

Belgian private bank Degroof Petercam, which has a significant presence in Luxembourg, has warned of ongoing uncertainty in financial markets as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which it said “undermines financial markets”.

The bank has announced a strong increase in net profits for 2021 as revenue growth outpaced rising operating costs. The bank also announced that former CEO and head of private banking Bruno Colmant is stepping down after seven years. Sabine Caudron will take over from Colmant as head of private banking. 

A Brussels-based group standing up for European users of financial services has warned that European savers and investors in long-term savings and pension products face a particularly sharp erosion of purchasing power as a result of rising prices.

Speaking about “financial repression”, Betterfinance, one of two EU-level consumer finance NGOs that regularly interact with the European Commission, said European savers are set to lose “hundreds of billions of euro” in purchasing power in 2022 alone.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its main policy rate by 50 basis points, the largest increase since 2000. The steep hike reflects the current state of the US economy, where inflation surged to 8.5 percent in March with unemployment relatively low at 3.6 percent.

In Luxembourg, international law firm Clifford Chance this week announced the promotion of two of its counsel and the appointment of nine senior associates, while industry group Alfi has hired a new head of communications from PWC Luxembourg.